Fonda Lee - Jade War

With collective vehemence, the men said that they did, and thanked the Horn for his mercy. Nau Suen studied the handful of kneeling Green Bones for a long minute. Then he pointed out three of the five. “Those three,” he said, and from where they were standing behind the prisoners, Waun Balu and his men slit each of the indicated throats and pushed the bodies face-first to the floor. The two remaining survivors turned pale with anticipation of death.

Nau said, “Your three friends weren’t sincere; they would’ve waited to seek revenge for Haku or betrayed the clan in some other way. The two of you, however, are being truthful.” The Horn fixed them with a terrifying stare. “You’ll be exiled from Janloon, to do work for the Mountain elsewhere in the country, and if you ever go against the Pillar again, you know what will happen to you and your families.”

One of the spared men asked permission to draw his talon knife. He sliced off his left ear and laid it on the floor, head bowed and blood running down his neck. His companion swallowed. “The clan is my blood, and the Pillar is its master,” he murmured quickly, and followed suit.

Ven Sando was in a senior management meeting with the leadership team of K-Star Freight the following morning when the door to the boardroom opened unexpectedly and Ayt Madashi strode in, accompanied by the Horn and the Weather Man and a small retinue. The Pillar of the Mountain looked down the long table of company executives and said, “Gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption. The Weather Man’s office has received an offer of purchase for K-Star Freight from a credible and interested party, and I must discuss it with Ven-jen privately before we make the news public to shareholders.”

The vice presidents murmured, looking at each other in surprise and confusion, but they departed without arguing. When they were gone, Ven rose from his leather chair at the end of the table and said, affronted, “I haven’t been approached by any buyers. Besides, K-Star is not for sale.” His gaze landed suspiciously on Nau Suen and the two Fists behind him, one of them carrying a cardboard filing box. If this was a business discussion, why were the Horn and his men here? Ven knew the answer, and despite his best efforts to appear normal, his hands began to shake.

Ayt motioned forward two strangers. They were not Kekonese. “These men are here to buy out your family’s majority ownership of K-Star Freight. Iwe-jen has prepared all the paperwork.” Iwe Kalundo, the clan’s Weather Man, was a dark, bald man with square black glasses frames. He placed his briefcase on the table and extracted a file folder with several documents, which he walked over to Ven and placed in front of the man.

Ven picked up the folder and flung it back across the table at Ayt, scattering pages. “Never,” he declared. “I’ll never sell. You’re making a terrible strategic mistake by trying to oust me. K-Star is one of the Mountain clan’s largest tributary entities, one of the largest corporations in Kekon. There aren’t any other companies with the capital to buy us out, and certainly none with the world-class expertise in transportation logistics to be able to take over our operations. If I leave, my entire management team leaves with me. K-Star will fail, and so will the Kekonese freight industry. The Mountain clan needs K-Star and the Ven family.”

Ayt Mada said, “You’re admirably confident for a clan traitor who is facing death, Ven-jen. Yes, K-Star is one of the largest companies in Kekon, and that would seem to make the Ven family indispensable. But the world is much bigger than Kekon these days; I would think that someone working in the transportation business would appreciate that.”

“You would put K-Star in the hands of foreigners?” Ven exclaimed in disbelief.

“Fifty-one percent of the company will be acquired by YGL Transport, headquartered out of Bursvik. I’m confident that these new owners have the operational capabilities to capably run K-Star in your absence. The other forty-nine percent of K-Star will remain under the control of selected Kekonese shareholders within the Mountain.”

At the Pillar’s nod, the Fist holding the closed cardboard filing box came forward and set it on the table. Ayt said, “Your eldest son, Haku—his head is inside this box. I’ll spare you by not opening it, but even with your tiny amount of jade, I expect you can Perceive that I’m not lying. You forfeited his life and your own when you conspired with No Peak. I’ve been thinking that Kaul Hilo has been acting unusually restrained as of late, and now it’s clear why. Sign the papers, Ven-jen. You come from an old Green Bone family; none of this should surprise you.”

Ven’s fragile mask of indignation and bluster collapsed; his chin trembled and his shoulders began to shudder. “My other children,” he whispered. “They had nothing to do with this. Spare them, Ayt-jen. I’ll sign the papers, I’ll instruct my managers to stay on after the sale, I’ll do whatever else you ask of me before I die, if only you’ll spare the rest of my family.”

“Your sons, no,” Ayt replied. “Your wife and daughters can leave the country in exile. I’ll allow you and your male children to be buried with your jade in the family plot on Kekon. That’s all the accommodation I can give to a man who has betrayed his Pillar.”

Iwe Kalundo gathered the strewn documents back together and showed Ven Sandolan each of the places he was required to sign.

On the day that No Peak’s spies had told him Zapunyo was scheduled to arrive in Port Massy, Hilo fed his sons dinner, then took his own meal to the sofa in the living room and watched the news while awaiting the call from his cousin to confirm that all the arrangements were in place. Wen was in Adamont Capita for the week, consulting on the redesign of the Kekonese embassy and scouting out properties of potential investment interest to the Weather Man’s office. Shae often came over to eat in the main house, but she was still at work on Ship Street, so Hilo was home alone with his children except for his mother planting flower bulbs outside in the garden and Kyanla puttering around in the kitchen.

On the television, anchorman Toh Kita was reporting on the recent narrow passage of the Oortokon Conflict Refugee Act, which would make Kekon one of several nations to commit to taking refugees from the war-ravaged region on the border of Shotar and Ygutan. Chancellor Guim was giving a speech in Wisdom Hall about the terrible human cost of foreign imperialism and the importance of Kekon stepping up as a responsible world citizen. He closed his address by expressing sadness over the recent passing of his predecessor, Son Tomarho, a devoted statesman and servant of the country, let the gods recognize him.

Hilo scowled at the screen. The Espenians were going to be unhappy about the passing of the Refugee Act. It would fall on Shae to deal with the brunt of the diplomatic fallout, but Hilo wished Chancellor Son had managed to keep his heart pumping for a while longer. He had gotten used to Son. Chancellor Guim struck him as too cagey and polished, and he was a Mountain loyalist, which meant No Peak’s influence in the Royal Council was considerably diminished. The coroner said there was no question Son Tomarho had died of cardiac arrest, but Hilo wasn’t one to believe in convenient accidents.

Jaya had thrown all her toys out of the playpen and was demanding to be picked up. Hilo knew he had a five-minute grace period before she threw a tantrum, so he finished his meal—a bowl of leftover ginger chicken stew—and held his daughter on his lap, trying to entertain her with a puppet. Hilo liked being a father and found it suited him. Children were completely honest and lived in the moment; they were demanding, but also easy to please, asking only for simple love and attention. He wouldn’t object to having more of them, if Wen was not determined to have a meaningful career within the clan, which he supported for the sake of her happiness but still thought was not entirely necessary.